Method of producing minced fish meat

ABSTRACT

The present invention relates to a method of separating meat from fish while immersed in water or an aqueous solution of alkaline salts, saccharide and/or amino acids. Hitherto the fish meat has been separated from fish in air, so that the freshness of meat has rapidly deteriorated, but the present invention can prevent such a drawback. When the boiled fish paste is produced by use of fish meat which has been prevented from the deterioration of freshness, it is possible to obtain a boiled fish paste of a higher gel strength, in other words, one of a higher quality having good mouth feel.

This is a continuation of application Ser. No. 052,941, filed June 28, 1979, now abandoned.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a method of preventing fish meat from deterioration, and more particularly to a method of producing minced meat of higher quality while preventing the fish meat from deterioration.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

In general, fish change in quality immediately after their landing with gradual deterioration thereof, and particularly when they are subjected to a treatment by a pressing meat collecting machine the deterioration of freshness occurs abruptly. There is a considerable difference in the degree of deterioration depending on the sort of fish, and the stronger the deterioration is, the poorer the quality will be when produced into a boiled fish paste, and in an extreme case, there may be produced such a minced meat that can not possibly be used for making a boiled fish paste.

Even with the use of a white meat fish such as pollack, white croaker etc. which has usually been used as a fish suitable for the boiled fish paste, if old or badly treated was, deteriorated in its quality in a moment, so that the resulting minced meat became poor in quality.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present inventors have eagerly studied the prevention of deterioration of fish in order to obtain a higher quality of minced fish meat, and as a result found that it is possible to prevent deterioration of quality by collecting the meat from fish in the presence of water or an aqueous solution containing one or more of alkaline salts, saccharides and amino acids. It has also been found that if a fish meat is bleached by means of an aqueous solution containing one or more of alkaline salts, saccharides and amino acids, the deterioration of quality can be prevented even more.

DESCRIPTION OF DRAWING

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing that breaking stress (g) decreases when the Mg⁺⁺ ATPase activity of fish meat is successively lowered with an increase in the concentration of EDTA in Experimental example 1 at the time of producing a boiled fish paste, wherein A shows a lower limit of the gel strength which permits the production of boiled fish paste;

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the change of gel strength in Experiments 1 to 6 in Experimental example 3, wherein 1 to 6 show respectively Experiments 1 to 6.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Fish treated in accordance with the present invention are general fish. In the case of small fish, they may be used in such a condition that their internal organs and heads are removed, and when it is a larger one it may be cut off into blocks and also it may be used under the shape of fillet.

These fish are treated by a meat collecting machine, and, according to the present invention, the machine must be such one that the meat collecting portion of the machine can be filled with water or an aqueous solution, or water or the aqueous solution can always be spread or injected over such portion.

As alkaline salts used in the present invention there may be used sodium bicarbonate, sodium carbonate, disodium phosphate, polymerized sodium phosphate etc., as saccharide there may be used sorbitol, dextrin, sucrose and so on, and as amino acids there may be used sodium glutamate, glycine etc.

The alkaline salts, saccharide and amino acids are used independently or in a mixture thereof. Relating to concentration, in the case of saccharide and/or amino acids, it is in a total of about 0.1-20%, preferably about in the range of 0.5-3%. Also, in the case of use of a solution of alkaline salts containing saccharide and/or amino acids, a solution prepared in such a way that an aqueous solution containing saccharide and/or amino acids in a total of 0.1-20%, preferably 0.5-3% is added with alkaline salts and adjusted to pH 7.5-8.5 is used.

The collected meat is bleached by the use of water, an alkaline salt solution, a solution of saccharide and/or amino acids, or alkaline salt solution containing saccharide and/or amino acid.

The bleaching is carried out in such a way that, for example, the collected meat is put in a certain container and water or one of said solutions is put in said container and stirred sufficiently, and then water soluble proteins etc. are removed, and the resulting material in the container is compressed to remove water content.

After the end of the bleaching and dehydration, the resulting material is frozen and worked into minced fish meat as it is or with addition of additives such as saccharide, phosphate etc.

As described above, according to the present invention, the collecting of fish meat is carried out by use of water, or a solution of alkaline salts, a solution of saccharide and/or amino acids, or an alkaline salt solution containing saccharide and/or amino acids, and consequently the quality deterioration of fish meat can notably be prevented.

It is a very interesting matter why the quality deterioration of the minced fish meat can be prevented by such a treatment. From the study of the inventors of the present invention, it has been thought that in the structure of fish body there are present protein, sugar and fat individually of enzyme, and when the fish body is subjected to the treatment of a pressing meat collecting machine, the cells of the fish body are broken and thereby protein, glucide, fat etc. contact with enzyme and due to various enzyme reactions, like a living body, enzyme reaction products, for example, lactic acid etc. are produced in a large quantity and the decomposition of protein is caused by a proteolytic enzyme. However, the fish body is dead, so that the enzyme reaction product can not be discharged and therefore acids become stored naturally in the fish meat, with the result that the fish meat becomes deteriorated. Such a phenomenon is notable in the case of fish of deep red-colored meat or lobsters, and these can not be possibly a raw material for the fish paste products because after the pressing collection of meat, the meat may become deteriorated immediately and the minced fish meat falls into pieces or may dissolve.

However, it is thought that if the pressing collection of meat is carried out in water, solution of alkaline salts, saccharide and amino acids, the water and said aqueous solutions are impregnated into the broken cells, or the cells are dissolved into the water and said aqueous solutions, so that the soluble enzyme or sugar is separated from the fish meat, the enzyme or acid is diluted into below an acting concentration thereof, the acid is neutralized by an added alkali and thereby the fish meat is prevented from acidification and enzyme decomposition. Also, it is thought that amino acids and sugar are known as deterioration preventing substances of protein and thus they prevent the deterioration due to the temperature effect etc. during the operation. According to this treatment, Mg⁺⁺ ATPase activity which is an index of the quality of minced fish meat is maintained at a considerably high level, thus showing that all kinds of fish become a higher quality of minced fish meat.

The freshness of fish meat can be determined exactly by measuring Mg⁺⁺ and Ca⁺⁺ ATPase activity in the fish meat. In the present invention, it is seen that Mg⁺⁺ and Ca⁺⁺ ATPase activity of the treated minced fish meat have a high activity and the freshness thereof is maintained well.

Test examples and practical examples of the present invention will be shown, and Mg⁺⁺ and Ca⁺⁺ ATPase activity used herein are those that were measured in the following manner.

The evaluation is achieved by measuring the ATPase total activity of myofibrils prepared quantitatively from frozen minced fish meat. The quantitative method for preparation of myofibrils is as follows: Five grams of minced fish meat is homogenized in a universal homogenizer with 15 ml of 0.1 M KCl containing 40 mM borate buffer (pH 7.0) for 1 min. at 20,000 rpm of the rotary cutter. The homogenization is prepared 5 more times of 30 sec. each. After subsequent addition of 85 ml of the same 0.1 M KCl (pH 7.0), the homogenate is centrifuged at 2,400 rpm for 10 min. The pellet from this spin is resuspended in 20 volumes of 0.1 M KCl (pH 7.0) and centrifuged for 10 min. at 2,400 rpm. The suspension and centrifugation are repeated 5 more times. The pellet obtained is finally suspended in 100 ml of 0.1 M KCl (pH 7.0) using the glass homogenizer and used for the measurement of the Ca⁺⁺ and Mg⁺⁺ -ATPase total activities.

Next, relating to Mg⁺⁺ ATPase activity, 1 mM MgCl₂, 2 mM Tris-HCl pH 7.5 and 1 mM ATPase are allowed to react together at 25° C. for 6 min., and on the basis of an amount of the produced Pi, the activity of ATPase is measured. The activity value is expressed as below.

Specific activity=Pi μmoles/min/mg protein

Total activity=Pi μmoles/min5 g of minced fish meat.

Ca⁺⁺ ATPase: 5 g of a minced fish meat is weighed out, and this meat is added with 15 ml of 0.1 M KCl.40 mM borate buffer pH 7.1 and homogenized, and further added to 15 ml of said solution and subjected to a centrifugal separation (600× g, 15 min.) and the resulting precipitate is mixed with 30 ml of 0.1 M KCl 40 mM borate buffer 1% Triton X 100 liquid, and left for 15 min. as it is, thereby allowing the lipids and membrane components to dissolve. This mixture is then subjected to a centrifugal separation and the resulting precipitate is washed with said first added solution three to four times, thereby washing out Triton X 100, and said solution of an amount of five times as much as the precipitate is added to the precipitate and this mixture is subjected to a centrifugal separation 400×g for 3 min. and the components collected in the resulting precipitate are again homogenized and combined with said supernatant liquid to prepare a constant volume of 10 ml.

On Ca⁺⁺ ATPase activity, 5 mM CaCl₂, 5 mM Tris-HCl pH 7.0 and 1 mM ATP are allowed to react together at 25° C. for 6 min. and on the basis of an amount of the produced P_(i), the activity of ATPase is measured. The activity value is expressed as below.

Specific activity=P_(i) μmoles/min/mg protein

Total activity=P_(i) μmoles/min/5 g of minced fish meat

Next, some test examples and practical examples according to the present invention will be described.

EXPERIMENTAL EXAMPLE 1

A frozen pollack minced meat was put in a cutter mixer and treated at 1500 rpm for 5 min., thereby performing agitation and cutting thereof, and thereafter the resulting paste was added with 0-1.66 mM (variable) of EDTA and subjected to an agitation-cutting treatment at 1500 rpm for 1 min. thereby causing Mg⁺⁺ of Mg⁺⁺ ATPase activity to be chelated so that Mg⁺⁺ ATPase activity of fish meat is progressively lowered, and the resulting paste was subjected to the setting at 40° C. For 60 min. and then steam-heated at 85° C. for 30 min. to produce a boiled fish paste, and its gel strength was measured in the breaking stress (g).

Result of said measurement is shown in the graph of FIG. 1, and from this figure it is apparent that the gel strength lowers quickly by increasing the addition amount of EDTA, and at a point of 1 mM EDTA/paste the paste becomes brittle to such an extent that it cannot already be used to produce a boiled fish paste, namely because it becomes loose so that it can not be used for making the paste products. In the figure, A shows a lower limit of the gel strength up to which the boiled fish paste products can be produced. From the above test results, it is recognized that Mg⁺⁺ ATPase activated by Mg⁺⁺ has a strong correlation with the gelation faculty of fish meat.

EXPERIMENTAL EXAMPLE 2

Present method: A short time after mackerel was caught, its head and internal organs were removed, and water which was made pH=7.5 by use of sodium bicarbonate was put in a certain container and in this container a pressing meat collecting machine was submerged, and in the water the fish meat was collected, and this meat was taken out of the water and subjected to water-bleaching three times by use of water, and then made into the minced fish meat, and pH, crude fat and Mg⁺⁺ ATPase activity were measured. Also, using this minced fish meat, a boiled fish paste was produced in a conventional manner, and its gel strength was measured. Prior art method: After a short time after mackerel was caught, its head and internal organs were removed, and subjected to the treatment of a pressing meat collecting machine in the air to collect the meat, and the collected meat was subjected to water-bleaching four times by use of water and then made into the minced fish meat. pH, crude fat and Mg⁺⁺ ATPase activity of this minced fish meat were measured, and also using this minced fish meat, a boiled fish paste was produced in a conventional manner, and its gel strength was measured.

Alkaline bleaching method: After a short time after mackerel was caught, its head and internal organs were removed, and subjected to the treatment of a pressing meat collecting machine in the air to collect the meat, and the collected meat was subjected to alkaline bleaching wherein the bleaching was carried out one time by 0.5% sodium bicarbonate solution and then three times by water, and then made into the minced fish meat. pH, crude fat and Mg⁺⁺ ATPase activity of this minced fish meat were measured, and also using this minced fish meat, a boiled fish paste was produced in a conventional manner, and its gel strength was measured.

A result of these comparison tests is shown in Table 1, and from this Table 1, it is apparent that according to the present invention, pH of the minced fish meat is higher, and a degree of loss of activity of Mg⁺⁺ ATPase activity is lower and a gel strength of the produced boiled fish paste is higher compared with the prior art. Also, according to the present invention, it is apparent that even mackerel can sufficiently be made into the boiled fish paste.

                  TABLE 1                                                          ______________________________________                                                                   Myofibrillar                                                                             Gel strength                               Method pH of    Crude fat Mg.sup.++ ATPase                                                                         of boiled                                  of     minced   of minced (Specific fish paste                                 treatment                                                                             fish meat                                                                               fish meat activity) (g) V-wedge                                ______________________________________                                         Prior art                                                                             5.7      3.85%     72%       380                                        Alkaline                                                                       bleaching                                                                             6.65     3.39      81        500                                        method                                                                         Present                                                                        invention                                                                             7.27     2.59      100       910                                        method                                                                         ______________________________________                                    

EXPERIMENTAL EXAMPLE 3

Fish body of white croaker without its head and internal organs was subjected to the treatment of a meat collecting machine to collect the meat in such a way that in the case of non-addition, no solution was added, and in the present invention, a solution of 0.25% sodium bicarbonate and 1% sorbitol, and solution of 1% sodium glutamate was respectively showered during the meat collection, and at the time of the bleaching, it was carried out by use of each water, 0.5% sodium bicarbonate solution, solution of 0.25% sodium bicarbonate and 1% sorbitol and solution of 1% sodium glutamate, and in the case of making the minced fish meat, it was respectively carried out in the condition of non-addition, an addition of 5% sorbitol, 1% sodium glutamate, and phosphate and thereafter the meat was frozen, and each of frozen minced fish meats was produced.

Next table 2 shows these experimental conditions.

                  TABLE 2                                                          ______________________________________                                                                     At the time of                                                                          Wa-                                       Ex-  At the time of         producing                                                                               ter                                       peri-                                                                               meat        At the time of                                                                            minced fish                                                                             con-                                      ment collection  bleaching  meat     tent pH                                   ______________________________________                                         1.   Non-addition                                                                               Water      Non-addition                                                                            78.9 6.88                                 2.   Non-addition                                                                               Water      5% Sorbitol,                                                                            75.4 7.17                                                             Phosphate                                          3.   Non-addition                                                                               0.5% Sodium                                                                               5% Sorbitol,                                                                            75.0 7.20                                                  bicarbonate                                                                               Phosphate                                          4.   0.25%       0.25%                                                              Sodium      Sodium     5% Sorbitol,                                                                            78.7 7.00                                      bicarbonate,                                                                               bicarbonate,                                                                              Phosphate                                               1% Sorbitol 1% Sorbitol                                                   5.   1% Glu--Na  1% Glu--Na 1% Glu--Na,                                                                             78.4 7.04                                                             Phosphate                                          6.   1% Glu--Na  1% Glu--Na 5% Sorbitol,                                                                            76.7 6.95                                                             Phosphate                                          ______________________________________                                    

The obtained frozen minced fish meat was preserved for two weeks and thereafter the minced meat was thawed, its pH, water content, Mg⁺⁺ and Ca⁺⁺ ATPase activity were measured, and also the minced meat was treated by means of a cutter mixer, and the seating was carried out at 40° C. for 60 min. and steam-heated at 85° C. for 30 min. thereby producing a boiled fish paste, and its gel strength was measured in breaking stress (g).

The result is shown in the following Table 3.

                  TABLE 3                                                          ______________________________________                                                              Myofibrillar                                                                             Myofibrillar                                                                            Gel                                    Experi-      Water   Mg.sup.++ ATPase                                                                         CA.sup.++ ATPase                                                                        strength                               ment  pH     content activity  activity (g)                                    ______________________________________                                         1     6.80   79.2    0.668     0.129    290                                    2     6.85   79.4    0.801     0.165    450                                    3     6.85   79.2    0.830     0.230    680                                    4     6.88   79.0    1.050     0.263    1000                                   5     6.90   78.6    0.855     0.230    750                                    6     6.86   78.6    0.938     0.229    960                                    ______________________________________                                    

Moreover, relating to these Experiments 1-6, the gel strength was measured by use of the boiled fish paste cut off in a thickness of 13 mm on the basis of a compression displacement of 6-12 mm, and these results are shown in FIG. 2, wherein 1 to 6 show respectively Experiments 1 to 6.

As is apparent from this Table 3 and FIG. 2, the minced fish meat according to the present invention has a higher freshness, and when made into the boiled fish paste, it has a higher gel strength, so that it makes it possible to produce a superior boiled fish paste.

PRACTICAL EXAMPLE 1

Production of frozen minced fish meat by mackerel underwater meat collecting method:

10 kg of mackerel--(pH 5.7)

After landing on the market was left for about 1 hour in cooled sodium bicarbonate water of 0° C. of an amount three times as much as said material having pH 7.5 and a salt concentration 1.5%, and then in said liquid with its head cut off and with its body divided into three parts. Further, said parts were subjected to the treatment of a meat collecting machine submerged in water to collect the meat and this meat was readjusted to pH 7.5. After leaving it for 30 min. as it was, it was subjected to the water-bleaching (three times) by use of water in an amount five times as much as the meat and after removing water from the meat the meat was added with 4% of sugar, 4% of sorbitol and 0.2% of polymerized phosphate, and mixed together and then quickly frozen at -70° C., thereby producing 2.6 kg of the frozen minced fish meat. This minced fish meat formed a boiled fish paste gel of good quality.

PRACTICAL EXAMPLE 2

Production of frozen minced fish meat by sardine underwater meat collecting method:

10 kg of sardine (pH 5.7) after the landing on the market was immersed in the cooled sodium bicarbonate solution pH 8.0 having a salt concentration 1.5%, and in said liquid with its head cut off and the body divided into three parts, and further said parts were subjected to the meat collecting treatment in said liquid and the meat was readjusted to pH 7.5, and then subjected to water-bleaching three times by use of water in an amount five times as much as the meat, and after the dehydration the meat was added with 4% of sugar, 4% of sorbitol and 0.2% of polymerized phosphate, and mixed together, and then quickly frozen at -70° C., thereby producing 2.5 Kg of the frozen minced fish meat. This minced fish meat formed a boiled fish paste gel of good quality.

PRACTICAL EXAMPLE 3

Underwater meat collection of scorpionfish which is one of white meat fishes:

About 10 Kg of scorpionfish after the landing was immersed in cooled water and therein the head and internal organs were removed, and then the meat collection was carried out by means of a meat collecting machine submerged in water, and the collected meat was subjected to water-bleaching treatment three times repeatedly, and then after the dehydration the meat was added to 4% of sugar, 4% of sorbitol and 2% of polymerized phosphate, and mixed together by means of a high speed agitator, and then quickly frozen at -70° C., thereby producing about 3 Kg of the frozen minced fish meat. This minced fish meat had a good quality, namely both its physiological activity and gel strength were superior to those in the prior art.

PRACTICAL EXAMPLE 4

Underwater meat collection of carcharhinus gangeeticus:

About 10 Kg of carcharhinus gangeeticus which was one of cartilage fishes treated in a cooled phosphoric acid buffer water having pH 7.5 and a salt concentration of 15% to cut off its head and remove its internal organs, and then the meat collection was carried out by means of a meat collecting machine submerged in water, and the meat was readjusted to pH 7.5, and then subjected to water-bleaching treatment three times repeatedly, and then after the dehydration the meat was added to 4% of sugar, 4% of sorbitol and 0.2% polymerized phosphate and mixed together, and thereafter quickly frozen at -70° C. thereby producing about 2.5 Kg of the frozen fish meat.

PRACTICAL EXAMPLE 5

White croaker was treated to cut off its head and remove its internal organs after the landing on the market, and the meat was collected by means of an underwater meat collecting machine in water containing 0.25% of sodium bicarbonate and 1% of sorbitol, and then the meat was subjected to the bleaching three times by use of a solution of an amount five times as much as the meat containing 0.25% sodium bicarbonate and 1% sorbitol, and after the dehydration the meat was added to 4% of sugar, 4% of sorbitol and 0.2% of polymerized phosphate, and mixed together and then quickly frozen at -70° C., thereby producing 2.6 Kg of the frozen minced fish meat.

PRACTICAL EXAMPLE 6

Carcharhinus gangeeticus was cut into block pieces, and subjected to the treatment of a meat collecting machine which was allowed to be spread with an aqueous solution, and at the time of the meat collection, an aqueous solution containing 0.25% of sodium bicarbonate, 1% of sorbitol and 1% of sodium glutamate was sufficiently spread over the meat during the meat collection. The collected meat portion was subjected to the bleaching three times by use of the same aqueous solution as the above of an amount five times as much as the meat portion, and after the dehydration the meat was added with 4% of sugar, 4% of sorbitol and 0.2% of polymerized phosphate, and subjected to mixing and grinding, and then quickly frozen, thereby producing the frozen minced fish meat.

PRACTICAL EXAMPLE 7

Mackerel after the landing on the market was made into fillet, and this was subjected to the treatment of an underwater meat collecting machine in an solution which was composed of an aqueous solution containing 1% of sorbitol and 1% of sodium glutamate and also added with sodium bicarbonate so as to have pH=7.8, and the collected meat portion was subjected to the water-bleaching three times by use of the same aqueous solution of pH=7.8 of an amount five times as much as the meat portion, thereafter the meat portion was added and mixed with 4% of sugar, 4% of sorbitol and 0.2% of polymerized phosphate, and then quickly frozen at -70° C., thereby producing the frozen minced fish meat. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of treating fish comprising separating the meat from the whole fish whose heads and organs have been removed, blocks of such fish or fillets of such fish, while submerged in water or in an aqueous solution containing 0.1-20% of at least one member selected from the group consisting of sorbitol, dextrin, sucrose, sodium glutamate, glycine, sodium bicarbonate, sodium carbonate, disodium phosphate and polymerized sodium phosphate, whereby rapid deterioration caused by breakdown of meat cells during meat separation is substantially avoided.
 2. A method of producing minced fish meat comprising separating the meat from whole fish whose heads and organs have been removed, blocks of such fish or fillets of such fish, while submerged in water or in an aqueous solution containing 0.1-20% of at least one member selected from the group consisting of sorbitol, dextrin, sucrose, sodium glutamate, glycine, sodium bicarbonate, sodium carbonate, disodium phosphate and polymerized sodium phosphate, whereby rapid deterioration caused by breakdown of meat cells during meat separation is substantially avoided, and then bleaching the obtained fish meat by use of water or an aqueous solution containing at least one member selected from the group consisting of sorbitol, dextrin, sucrose, sodium glutamate, glycine, sodium bicarbonate, sodium carbonate, disodium phosphate and polymerized sodium phosphate.
 3. A method in accordance with one of claims 1 or 2, wherein said separating step takes place while submerged in an aqueous solution containing 0.5-3% of at least one of said members. 